Huawei Nova 10 SE Review: A Budget Smartphone with Premium Features

The Huawei Nova 10 SE is a standout in the budget-friendly smartphone category, offering a solid combination of performance, design, and features typically reserved for higher-end devices. As part of Huawei’s Nova series, the Nova 10 SE brings a sleek design, impressive camera system, and decent performance to a more affordable price point, making it an excellent choice for users who want a reliable device without the premium price tag. In this review, we will explore the Huawei Nova 10 SE’s design, camera capabilities, performance, battery life, and overall user experience to determine if it’s the right fit for your needs.

Design and Display: Premium Look at an Affordable Price

The Huawei Nova 10 SE boasts a modern and minimalist design that looks and feels more expensive than its price would suggest. It features a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, providing Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels), which ensures sharp, vibrant visuals for watching videos, gaming, and browsing. The AMOLED technology offers deeper blacks, better contrast, and more vibrant colors compared to traditional LCD screens, making it ideal for media consumption and gaming.

The 20:9 aspect ratio provides an immersive experience with an impressive screen-to-body ratio, allowing the phone to feel sleek and modern. The Nova 10 SE also has a punch-hole design, which minimizes bezels and maximizes the usable screen area. Whether you’re scrolling through your social media feed or watching your favorite shows, the AMOLED display delivers a rich and crisp visual experience.

In terms of build, the Nova 10 SE features a plastic back with a glossy finish that reflects light beautifully. While the plastic construction keeps the phone light and durable, it does pick up fingerprints easily, so using a case might be necessary to maintain a clean look. The device is comfortable to hold, and its slim profile (just 7.39mm thick) makes it easy to carry in your pocket or bag.

Camera System: AI-Powered Photography for Stunning Results

The Huawei Nova 10 SE features a versatile camera setup that’s designed to deliver great results in a variety of shooting conditions. The rear camera system consists of a 108MP primary sensor, which is the star of the show, delivering high-resolution, detailed images that are perfect for everything from landscapes to close-up shots. The f/1.9 aperture helps capture more light, ensuring good performance even in low-light settings.

In addition to the 108MP main camera, the Nova 10 SE comes with an 8MP ultra-wide camera, offering a 120-degree field of view, making it ideal for capturing wide landscapes or group shots. The ultra-wide lens expands your photographic capabilities, allowing you to get creative with your shots. The 2MP depth sensor assists in taking portrait photos, providing a bokeh effect that blurs the background and emphasizes the subject, which is ideal for portrait photography.

Huawei’s AI photography features enhance the camera system by automatically detecting scenes and adjusting settings accordingly to optimize photos based on the subject and lighting conditions. Whether you’re shooting outdoors or in a dimly lit room, the AI-powered camera ensures that you get the best possible shot without much effort. The Night Mode feature is another highlight, improving low-light performance by brightening images and reducing noise.

On the front, the Huawei Nova 10 SE features a 16MP selfie camera that captures clear, detailed selfies. The AI beautification mode helps smooth out skin tones and enhance facial features for a polished, natural-looking photo. This camera also supports 1080p video recording, which is a nice touch for users who enjoy creating content or engaging in video calls.

In terms of video recording, the Nova 10 SE supports 4K video at 30fps with the rear camera, allowing users to capture high-quality video with decent stabilization. While it doesn’t offer advanced features like optical image stabilization, the 4K recording is more than sufficient for casual vlogging or social media content.

Performance: Smooth Operation for Daily Tasks

Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset, the Huawei Nova 10 SE offers decent performance for everyday tasks. The Snapdragon 680 is an efficient mid-range processor designed for light gaming, media consumption, and multitasking. Paired with 8GB of RAM, the Nova 10 SE runs smoothly, allowing for efficient switching between apps and handling multiple tasks at once without much lag.

While the Snapdragon 680 may not be as powerful as flagship processors, it handles everyday tasks like browsing the web, checking social media, and streaming videos without issue. For light gaming, the Adreno 610 GPU performs well in popular mobile games like PUBG Mobile or Call of Duty Mobile, though you may need to lower graphics settings for smoother performance in more demanding games.

The Nova 10 SE comes with 128GB of internal storage, which should be ample for most users, allowing them to store photos, apps, and media. For those who need more space, the phone supports expandable storage via a microSD card, providing up to 1TB of additional storage. This feature is particularly beneficial for users who store a lot of high-resolution photos, videos, or apps on their devices.

The Huawei Nova 10 SE runs on HarmonyOS 2.0, Huawei’s custom operating system. While HarmonyOS offers a smooth and intuitive user experience, it does come with some limitations, such as the absence of Google services. This means users must rely on Huawei’s AppGallery and third-party app stores to download apps. While this is not ideal for everyone, HarmonyOS has made significant strides, offering a user-friendly interface and unique features like Huawei Share and Multi-Screen Collaboration.

Battery Life: Lasting Power for a Full Day

The Huawei Nova 10 SE is equipped with a 4000mAh battery, which is sufficient to get most users through the day on a single charge. Whether you’re browsing the web, watching videos, or chatting with friends, the phone’s battery life is more than adequate for typical use. Users who engage in more power-hungry tasks like gaming or video recording may need to charge the device by the evening, but overall, the battery life is solid for a mid-range phone.

In terms of charging, the Nova 10 SE supports 66W fast charging, which is an impressive feature for a budget-friendly device. With 66W charging, the phone can go from 0% to 60% in just 20 minutes and reach a full charge in around 40 minutes. This is a standout feature in its price range, allowing users to quickly top off their battery when needed, making it perfect for users on the go.

Connectivity and Additional Features

The Huawei Nova 10 SE offers a wide range of connectivity options, including 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC for fast data transfer and easy pairing with other devices. The phone also features a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer and includes a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for quick and secure access to the device. Additionally, Face Unlock is available for added convenience.

Other notable features include dual SIM support, which is ideal for users who want to separate personal and work numbers, as well as Huawei’s AppGallery for app downloads.

Conclusion: Is the Huawei Nova 10 SE Worth It?

The Huawei Nova 10 SE offers a strong mix of features, design, and performance at a price that won’t break the bank. With its 108MP camera, AMOLED display, 66W fast charging, and solid performance, the Nova 10 SE delivers great value for users who want a reliable, feature-packed smartphone without paying a premium price.

While it may lack some advanced features like 5G connectivity or Google services, the Nova 10 SE stands out for its camera performance, battery life, and fast charging, making it an excellent option for users seeking a budget-friendly smartphone with premium-like features. If you’re looking for a device that offers great value for money, the Huawei Nova 10 SE is definitely worth considering.